??? You don’t pay for electricity or other utility to run the washing machine, and heat water? You don’t pay for laundry soap or other laundry products? Your time has no value? I don’t get it.
Obviously washing 6 towels as opposed to two is 3 times the amount of resources used.
I’m with @RiverRock on this. What is the marginal increase of electricity, soap and time to run a wash that has x items in it versus x +y items?
Importantly, this is not true, not close to being true in my situation.
For me the major ‘cost’ of extra towels is ‘Where do I put them?’ though I can easily put them in bedroom closets. We have an on-site and free [to guests] clothes washer/dryer, so guests can also wash them themselves.
I’ve gone through the numbers on the electricity cost for washing and gas cost for drying. These are not [at all] big numbers here. I’ve spoken to some appliance repair folks who say the greater cost is not running the washer/dryer but running it overfilled.
I wasn’t referring to the amount of the extra cost or whether it will break the bank, but to say that washing 3 times the quantity of laundry costs nothing more simply isn’t true.
Actually, you said:
It might not be nothing, but in many situations close to it.
It’s three times the amount of water, 3 times the amount of hot water if you use that to wash towels, 3 times the amount of laundry soap, 3 times the time it takes.
And just because something is a negligible extra cost doesn’t mean it’s okay to use up resources to accommodate our-over-the-top first-world indulgences, like using a clean towel every day. Our planet is suffering hugely from this attitude.
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It really isn’t.
But if it’s really negligible ?
Or every three days for bath towels.
This was a new and surprising idea to me but apparently there are scientists who support this.
All this is not worth an argument.
P.S. Pretty succinct replies, eh?
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Of course there isn’t. But you have to do more loads of wash the more laundry you have, obviously. I can’t believe this needs to be pointed out.
I’ve used the same face towel for a week my entire adult life of 55 years and never gotten an eye infection.
Yes, all of us pick and choose the ways in which we make less of an environmental impact and rationalize why it’s okay to do as we choose. We should just recognize it as such.
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Not necessarily. Could be just more towels per load.
BTW, I don’t think I’m getting credit for my short, succinct answers.
Can we talk about THAT – or is that a ‘tangent’?
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This is absurd. The smaller the load the less water one uses. Do you really set the washing machine on full load to wash 2 towels?
Do we really wash two towels?
Or have a stack of towels that we throw in the washer at the end of the week?
I notice you keep changing the subject of my succinct answers.
Yes!
I can’t believe that the amount of water used is a linear function of the weight of what is washed.
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Of course it is. The more laundry in the machine, the more water is necessary to allow the items to move around freely enough to actually get clean. That is why there are settings on washing machines for the size of the load.
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But is it linear?
Think of your dishwasher?
If I put in one glass I use ‘x’ amount of water.
If I put in ten glasses, do I use 10X? NO.
Same with clothes washers.
The reason why it’s recommended to wash a full load is because there’s a certain minimum amount of water and energy needed just to run a load, any load.
If it’s a smaller load, somewhat less water MIGHT be used but there’s likely a minimum amount of water and energy needed to run any load.
Above you talk about :
I don’t set it on a ‘full’ load, I just set it ‘on.’
My clothes washer will sense how big the load is and take in water accordingly , but it’s not a linear function. That’s why it’s most cost effective to wash full loads.
Because it takes pretty much the SAME if not exactly the SAME energy and water to run a load that is 100% full and one that is, say, 80% full. And while a load that is 50% of a full load might take less water and energy than a 100% full load, the amount of water and energy is not 50% because it’s not a linear function.
Just like it isn’t in the dishwasher.
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Which is why people try to fill the dishwasher before they turn it on. A dishwasher, unlike a washing machine, uses the same amount of water regardless of how full it is, so it’s not a comparable analogy to a washing machine.
I feel like I’m talking to people who failed 3rd grade math. If you can fit 8 bath towels in a load of wash, and you have 8 bath towels a week to wash, you have 1 load of towel laundry a week. If you use 24 towels in a week, you’ll have 3 loads. Duh.
my front loader washer weighs the load and uses the amount of water according to the load…
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Yes! And the same with clothes washers. Who would put in a load for two face towels??
Of course.
But those aren’t typically the facts. [Your load for eight towels would be 12.5# based on assumptions below, and the key would be the number of full loads. If a full/max load is 21 pounds, then based on assumptions below you could wash 13 bath towels per load and therefore complete the wash of 24 towels in two (not three) full loads. Call that cost ‘x’. If you had only eight towels and washed only those eight towels in a medium load, the electricity and water cost for the two extra-large loads would be less than 3X the cost of the one load of eight towels because you’re running two loads, not three. There is a scenario where your example is correct; it would be one which the maximum load is 12.5# and you have eight or 24 bath towels to wash.]
Isn’t it also a fact that you’re going to wash the towels separately, not with the sheets and the duvet covers? So if you have a 5# load of towels you’re going to run one load. And, for me, I can run a 21# load of towels in just one load. So having extra towels is often not going to require you to proportionally run more loads. And it’s the number of loads that is the key cost.
I have an HE washer that will accommodate 21 pounds as its extra-large load; a large load is 11 pounds; a medium load is 6 pounds.
A premium towel will have a weight of 620-900 GSM (grams per square meter). Call it 760 GSM.
Suppose a hand towel is 16 x 30" [.31 sq meters]; a bath towel 27 x 54" [.94 sq meters]; a wash cloth 12 x 12" [.093].
Suppose in a week one person uses two bath towels, seven wash cloths and three hand towels.
So the weight is 760 grams x [ (2 x .31) + (2 x .94) + (7 x .093] = 760 x [ .62 + 1.88 +.651] = 760 x 3.151 = 2,395 grams / 454 (grams/pound) = 5.3 pounds
So that’s somewhat smaller than a medium load.
But suppose I have four people at that usage, which is 21.2 pounds, an extra large load that my machine can accommodate (its max) in one load. That’s the key: the number of loads. Yes, length of cycle will vary with weight, also water, but it won’t be proportionally more. If it takes 45 minutes for a medium six pound load, it doesn’t take 3X (two hours and 15 minutes) as long for an 18# load (so not three times the kWH).
Where I live electricity is the major marginal cost. Is the wear and tear on the machine for one extra-large load 3X what a medium load is? I don’t think so.
How about a hairdini for the ladies🤷♀️
So does mine. Yes, the amount of water varies, and in my machine the cycle time varies, I’m just saying that these are not linearly proportional to the weight. That if I have a load of 5# vs 10# the larger load doesn’t require twice the electricity because it it runs twice as long. It doesn’t run twice as long though it might run somewhat longer, nowhere near twice because the relationship is not linear, not proportional to weight.
Just like if you run a dishwasher with only a spoon in it, the cycle lasts about as long as if it were full.
The biggest factor by far in cost is the number of loads that you run your dishwasher or your clothes washer, not how much is in it, even though there is a variance based on the weight of the load (and other factors) depending on the sophistication of your washer.
Why? Because – I am assuming – you major incremental cost is electricity. And your major long-term cost of wear and tear is the number of loads you run assuming that you don’t exceed manufacturer specifications (i.e., a load in excess of specs can greatly speed wear and tear).
No, it isn’t a fact. It would be a mistake to assume that everyone does things the same way you do. I wash all kinds of things together. Certainly sheets and towels if that’s what I have to make up a full load. That has never resulted in any dire consequences.
It’s not just me.
But this is a tangential issue, isn’t it?
What is your response to your comment on those who failed 3rd grade math? [I take no offense. I was thinking of using a third grade math reference but you beat me to it!]
Anyway, isn’t ALL this discussion that we’re having on costs of washing towels really beside the point? Aren’t we just getting a little caught in minor things, trying to prove we’re ‘right’?
I’ve found it enlightening that we really should change/wash our towels far more frequently than I’ve been doing (weekly). And isn’t it a good/hospitable idea to make extra towels available to our guests? And isn’t it not a big cost if the towels are cleaned in something close to full loads?
So isn’t that the end of the discussion? Am I off-based on this?
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